The Impact of Identity on Success in Online business and How to Shift It
When I started my online coaching business in 2018, I was also moving to France, leaving my job as a psychologist back in Germany. So from an outside perspective, I was very much leaping into this entrepreneurial journey with both feet, a full-time CEO from the start!
But here is the interesting part: It took me almost 2 years to actually FEEL like the CEO. It was a long process of getting my belief behind what I'm doing, figuring out what exactly my niche is, heck, even in what language I wanted to run my business!
Now, I am not saying that it has to take that long until YOU have fully embodied that businesswoman identity, but I do think that every one of us goes through this process of basically transforming who you are and how you see yourself.
And the amazing thing is, once I stepped into that CEO identity, the clients came! From a mindset perspective, your identity work is the most important work you could do, because your identity informs every behavior, every belief, and every outcome you'll create.
Dilts pyramid and the power of your identity
Robert Dilts created a model of the neurological levels that he described as a pyramid. When you look at the pyramid, you see "purpose" and "identity" at the top, with everything from your beliefs to your skills, behaviors, and environment trickling down.
With this logic in mind, you can see the crucial mistake that a lot of new coaches, healers, and other online entrepreneurs are doing: They think that they have to sign clients aka see the change in the environment before they could feel like the successful CEO and adapt that identity for them.
According to Dilts, this is completely backward. It's when you see yourself as the amazing coach that you already are, and you assume that identity of a successful CEO, you'll automatically shift your beliefs, your actions, and the results you get!
To be fair, there is definitely an interaction between all of those neurological levels. For example, when you work on your skillset as a coach, it will strengthen your self-image, too. But it's undeniable that how you identify (aka the things you say after "I am") is massively impacting your day-to-day experience.
Let's think of an example: Let's imagine you just started your health coaching business. You are maybe just getting started on the side and still in your 9-5 job that you eventually want to quit, focusing full-time on your business. Now, if you say to yourself "Argh, I am such a newbie, I don't know anything about how to make this business work. I hope nobody is asking me about my health coaching business because I feel like I am not legitimate, I mean, I don't have any clients yet ...." you clearly identify as a newbie, who doesn't know what she is doing, right?
What do you believe about yourself and what's possible for you at this time? You probably think it's unlikely that clients could come to you because "you don't know what you are doing". Maybe you don't really believe in the value of your health coaching and feel like other - more experienced - health coaches would be doing such a better job for people struggling in their health journey.
If you believe THOSE things to be true, you are probably not very skilled when it comes to selling and reaching out to new potential leads for your business. Hence the behavior you show is probably very little to no selling, maybe procrastinating on the tasks that would actually move your business forward. And what is the outcome of that? No clients! Which in turn of course reinforces your beliefs about yourself.
So how to break out of this loop?
You might have guessed it, by focusing on your identity and creating change on that level!
Helpful tools and practices to step into your thriving CEO identity
The first thing that feels really important to say here is that if you work with a business coach ask them to focus on creating that identity shift. And if you are looking for a coach to be sure that they have the tools and experience to do so!
Because while there are practices that you can do, having somebody by your side who can handpick the right tools for you specifically is priceless!
With that being said, the first practice to try out is to write about the version of yourself who is ALREADY a successful coach, healer, or online entrepreneur. If you had that level of success that you are desiring, if you had 10, 20, or 1000 clients, how would you feel? How would you hold yourself? What would you believe to be true? What would you value in your life and business? What would your daily habits look like?
When you know how this new identity feels and looks like you have the blueprint of your success!
Another practice that I am a huge fan of is to consciously practice your self-talk. You can call those affirmations, you can call them rampages, the important part is to affirm to yourself what you WANT to be true. So instead of playing this story in your mind of "Nobody is going to hire me. It's so hard to make money." start saying to yourself "People want to work with me! My work is of high service. I am amazing at what I do and anybody would be lucky to be my client!" Can you feel the difference in energy between those two? And what actions do you think you are going to take when you say the second set of phrases to yourself instead of the first?
The thing that so many people misunderstand when it comes to affirmations and self-talk is that this isn't a one-and-done practice (VERY little things are actually a one-and-done practice, so there is that ;)). Affirmations are literally rewiring your brain and having a tangible impact on the structure of your brain, and that takes time and repetition! Really, repetition is your forever bestie when it comes to affirmations! So on every walk, while doing your dishes, while getting ready for your day, say those affirmations, baby! You'll thank me later!
Let me know if this article has been helpful to you and leave me a comment below!
Also, I'd LOVE it if you shared this blog post with others who could benefit from it. As a token of my appreciation and gratitude to you, everyone who shares this article on Instagram and tags me (@leapwithlisa) will be entered to win a 45-minute coaching session with me!
Every month I am drawing a winner because I want to thank you for not only reading this blog but also sharing this information with the people you know. Just make sure that your Instagram profile is public so that I can see it when you tag me ;)
Want to dive deeper into this conversation?
I recently did a livestream over on Instagram where I shared more about this internal transformation that every entrepreneur must go through in order to create success 🚀
Just click on the picture below to watch!
In this video, we'll talk about the difference between just dabbling in your business and making the commitment to sign clients and scale your impact.
You’ll also learn the 3 key elements to navigate in order to step into your thriving CEO identity!
My goal is to make this process easier for you, so you can focus on what really matters - growing your business!
So grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable, and let's dive in together HERE 💪
Comments